Visit the search room
Service update 29th April 2025
We will close our public access search room on Friday 27th of June for the rest of 2025. This closure allows the team to prepare for a major collections move from our Murrayburn storage facility as the council depot closes. While we are currently closed until Tuesday 20th of May we will reopen as planned. Our last day of public access will then be Thursday 26th of June. We ask any researchers considering visiting us this year to book a visit during these 5 weeks we remain open.
During our closure, we must limit enquiry research to 10 minutes per request. This limitation allows staff to concentrate on the move, which will involve relocating over 6.5 km of records to new sites.
When we reopen our search room in early 2026, it will still be on Level 1 of the City Chambers. We hope to have more collections stored on-site at the City Chambers, which will allow quicker access to them. However, some collections will be sent to third-party storage until we have a permanent home. These will still be accessible once we reopen but will likely take a longer time to retrieve.
Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please send any queries to Archives@edinburgh.gov.uk
Access limitations
Due to ongoing issues at our main off site storage facility, we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily cease access to records held at this site. Not all records are held at this site, so these will still be available in be available in our search room. This includes core council records such as Edinburgh Town Council Minutes and accounts up to 1975, Leith Burgh Records, Edinburgh District Council minutes (full Council only) up to 1988, and other records.
Normal service
Our public search room is normally open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 10am and 4.30pm. We always have an archivist available to assist with any questions you may have. We are unlikely to be able to provide access to the search room unless you have booked a space at least a week in advance. This is because the majority of our collections are stored off-site and must be delivered to the search room before visits.
Email us to book a space
You will be assigned a seat for the duration of your visit and we ask that you do not use hand sanitiser during your visit to the search room as this can damage the records. There will be access to hand washing facilities on site.